WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/inpictures/2011/08/2011827131716942874.html

 

SOMALIA-KENYA - FAMINE BUT DIGNITY AMIDST DESTITUTION - WOMEN

 

In the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, images of dignity and resilience exist alongside those of desperation and destitution.

 

 

 

Most households are women-led, as thousands of husbands and fathers remain behind in Somalia, either involved in the fighting, looking after the last remaining livestock, or raising more money to make the journey to Dadaab.

Touted as the harshest drought in six decades, more than 12 million people are said to be vulnerable to starvation in the Horn of Africa.

Somalia, without a central government for the past two decades, has been the worst hit, with around 3.2 million of its citizens facing intermittent starvation. Every day thousands flee to Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen.

In the Dadaab refugee complex in north eastern Kenya, which is home to an estimated 440,000, mostly Somali, refugees, the UNHCR says that the plight of new arrivals reflects deteriorating conditions inside Somalia.

Dadaab may be bursting at the seams - a stark example of natural disaster and human failure - but it is also the site of innovation, agency and entrepreneurialism. The resilience and dignity of those in the most precarious of positions - victims of drought, civil war and poor governance - offer an alternative to the often simplified images of desperation that flash across our television screens and further compound the international weariness over the crisis.